13 Halloween Ideas to Encourage Employee Participation

1. Workstation Decorating Contest

Allowing your employees to go all-out when decorating their workstations for Halloween can help give them a sense of change within their immediate atmosphere which can provide them with a renewed sense of energy. This also gives your employees a way to let their personality shine through their decorations.

2. Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving is perhaps one of the biggest staples of October. Provide your employees with pumpkins to either carve or decorate. If you want to stay away from the mess of pumpkin guts, bring in glue, newspaper and different art supplies and decorate the pumpkins that way. If you have the space, try to set up your employee’s pumpkins together in your lobby to add personality to your office.

3. Games

There are so many games that you can play with your employees or encourage them to play among themselves. One of the easiest games to play is to set up a locked jar of candy on the front desk or in the break room and offer a small reward to whoever can guess the amount of candy in the jar. 

4. Costume Party

What better way to celebrate the Halloween season than throwing a costume party? Everyone needs to get in touch with their inner child every once in a while, and in most cases, employees love having one day where they can go all out and dress completely different than their normal office-wear.

5. Costume Contest

Some employees may be nervous or find it silly to dress up, especially if they’re used to fellow employees either not dressing up or slacking off on their costume. Try making a big deal about having a costume contest and offer a reward to the winner that is grand enough to encourage participation.

6. Fall Breakfast

Halloween also means pumpkin spice season has officially risen. Jumping on the pumpkin spice train can help add a little bit of humor to your workplace environment. Try bringing in fall inspired breakfast treats like pumpkin pie or pumpkin spice coffee to help boost the fall mood and bring a little bit more joy into the workplace.

7. Decorate the Office

Decorating the office shows your employees that you’re fun and that you care about their happiness. It may seem like a small gesture, but many employees are tired of feeling as if their company doesn’t have a personality or is too worried about working all the time to ever have fun and celebrate. Decorating is the perfect way to show you care all month long, while not distracting your employees.

8. Best Themed Dish

We’re pretty much all used to having a pot-luck around the major giving holidays, but why not have one during the Halloween season as well? Pick a day and then encourage employees to bring in the spookiest and most delicious Halloween recipes they can make and then judge the dishes on taste and presentation for a little extra fun.

9. Photo Booth

Have a photo booth set up somewhere in the office for employees to take photos. This will come in handy during your costume party, pumpkin carving contest and any employees who win prizes throughout the month!

10. Trunk-or-Treat

Never be afraid to host events that allow your employees to bring their kids to the office. If your company has a private parking lot and good weather, try asking your employees to decorate the trunks of the cars and pass out candy! You can even take it a step further and offer fun games and hay rides. If you don’t have your own parking lot, try handing out candy from your decorated workspace instead.

11. Scary Story Board

If your company deals with clients, try putting up a tack wall during the month of October and encourage employees to anonymously write or type their (unnamed) client horror stories. Towards the end of the month, invite your employees to sit together and read all of the stories while sipping hot cider or coffee.

12. Department Competitions

Department competitions provide the perfect opportunity for new employees to get to know everyone in their department and build department strength. These competitions can range anywhere from bake-offs, to group costume contests, department decoration contests, etc. The possibilities are endless!

13. Talent Show

Spooky season is the perfect opportunity to have your employees show off all of the fun and crazy talent they have. In order to make sure the talent show doesn’t take away too much from the work day, have your employees sign up and then divvy out the talent show spots through different days of the week. To add more fun, tell your employees they can’t repeat anything that’s already been done, causing the employees who go last to be the most creative.

Original Post:

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